Pau Gasol Injury Heightens Lakers Drama
Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports
The Los Angeles Lakers and drama go together like lamb and tuna fish. Of course normally that drama is more media concoction than anything else. Sure, the Kobe and Shaq feud was real but the results were three championships, hardly the stuff of T.O. dysfunction.
This season has been much different though. The drama is reaching Jerry Springer heights with a Kafkaesque feel.
Teams with title aspirations don’t’ normally fire their head coach less than a month into the season. Nor do they hire coaches without a champion’s pedigree who employ an ill-fitting system yet still expect a banner to be hung.
In addition title contenders are never found languishing below .500 well beyond the midpoint of the season.
But that’s what these Lakers are and this time the drama is all too real.
Last night the pop heard round the Lakers’ universe came from Pau Gasol’s foot. An already lost season for The Spaniard suddenly hangs in the balance. An already drama filled mess just got the contents of a fresh batch of dumpster remains piled on top.
Here we go again…again…
If you just can’t get enough of the Tebow type coverage the four letter frauds give the Lake Show then get ready for all the ad nauseam you can stomach.
There will be no shortage of discussion revolving around how soon Dwight Howard will be forced back into action, how impossible it is to trade Gasol now, now improbable the Lakers playoff hopes have become, how many more shots Kobe will put up a night. And odds are that’s just what will come from the never silent mouth of Stephen A. Smith.
Not only did Gasol’s injury come just as the Lakers looked like they had turned the corner this season but it also hits just as Mike D’Antoni’s hire was finally showing some fruits. Now the tree might be barren again…or not.
Who knows?
This season has already had more unexpected twists than if a virus infected the machines at a Red Vines factory. Kobe playing the Steve Nash role, Earl Clark being more valued than Gasol, Mike Brown looking like a better hire than D’Antoni, Jim Buss…never mind…
I can’t take anymore and anyone that’s enjoying this is either a Laker hater or the type that enjoys Lifetime movies. Either way you’re sick in the head and have too much free time.
Whatever the MRI reveals of Gasol’s injury will only be the tip of the iceberg for what remains this season. Lurking beneath the waters is a certified Titanic killer. Just how much the Lakers do to avoid being sunk in the cold waters of this season is where the real drama lies. I’m just not so sure my heart can handle what comes next.